Palestine–Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic relations

Both nations have an Arab majority. The future founder of Polisario Front, El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, used to meet Palestinian leaders during 1970s in Lebanon,[2] in which he was influenced by the Israeli occupation. Fearing a future Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, the Polisario Front was established, in a similar format to the Palestine Liberation Front.[3] The flag of Western Sahara draws from the flag of Palestine. The influence of the Sahrawi independence movement draws a level of sympathy toward Sahrawis among Palestinians.[4]

George Habash, one of the founders of Palestine's PLO, met with Brahim Ghali in 1979 and indicated solidarity with the Western Saharan cause.[2] Both countries share similar styles of struggling, including conducting guerrilla warfare, against both Israel and Morocco.[5]

In recent years, fears of growing Palestinian–Sahrawi contact prompted the Moroccan authorities to censor them, allying with a number of groups that opposed any alliance. In 2016, the Palestinian Solidarity Committee with Western Sahara was banned from entering Gaza by Hamas.[2]